Is it really so difficult to feed vitamin c?

[daimawr]

My vet advised me to feed lots of vitamin C to my two piggies. Pretty easy I thought, until I went into it more. Spinach is good, but high in Calcium. Kale is better, but how much per pig? Some UK vets say you cannot overdose vitamin C, while many American vets say you can, and it could be very dangerous. Red and Green peppers are high in the C stuff,and low in Calcium, but my pigs won't touch them. Some vegetables have too much Calcium, or too much Oxalic Acid, it's a nightmare. Anyone got some really good advice on this one?

[Wiebke]

What are your guinea pigs suffering from?

A normal diet of mixed veg does provide a good amount of vitamin C and a balance of trace elements. For overdosing, you need to give A LOT on a regular basis, but it can be done.

You may find that following this diet will give your piggies a good long term balance with all the vitamin C they normally need: http://www.store2go.net/shop/planetguinea/ratewatchersrainbowdiet.pdf

You may need to give your piggies extra vitamin C because of illness or or because they have been diagnosed with vitamin C deficiency (i.e. scurvy). Here is good info on how much vitamin C your piggies really need. It comes from the best medical website for guinea pigs: http://www.guinealynx.info/scurvy.html

In case you need to supplement your piggy's diet with extra vitamin short term, but have trouble to get them eat high vitamin C veg or eat at all, you can place a small part of a vitamin C in their mouth or dissolve part of a tablet in a little bit of water and syringe that. Do not be tempted to put something into their water, as you can't control the intake and it will go off quickly (apart from turning the bottle green in record time!).

[bexholmez14]

vitamin c is a water soluble vitamin - which means your fat cells don't absorb the vitamin and any excess is passed out through urine - is this the case with guinea pigs? or just us humans?

[bexholmez14]

What are your guinea pigs suffering from?

A normal diet of mixed veg does provide a good amount of vitamin C and a balance of trace elements. For overdosing, you need to give A LOT on a regular basis, but it can be done.

You may find that following this diet will give your piggies a good long term balance with all the vitamin C they normally need: http://www.store2go.net/shop/planetguinea/ratewatchersrainbowdiet.pdf

You may need to give your piggies extra vitamin C because of illness or or because they have been diagnosed with vitamin C deficiency (i.e. scurvy). Here is good info on how much vitamin C your piggies really need. It comes from the best medical website for guinea pigs: http://www.guinealynx.info/scurvy.html

In case you need to supplement your piggy's diet with extra vitamin short term, but have trouble to get them eat high vitamin C veg or eat at all, you can place a small part of a vitamin C in their mouth or dissolve part of a tablet in a little bit of water and syringe that. Do not be tempted to put something into their water, as you can't control the intake and it will go off quickly (apart from turning the bottle green in record time!).

Ratewatchers....Classic!! LOL! :))

[CiaraPatricia]

I think since vitamin C is added to GP food and if they eat a lot of fresh veg then they surely get enough? Doesn't pretty much all fresh veg/fruit have vitamin C? I'd feed them lots of dark green veg, like green lettuces, rocket, watercress, etc. I could be wrong, but I think they have vitamin C in them? not huge amounts like peppers and oranges, but still has some.

[PingandChipy]

My piggies just chew on Vitamin C chewables. They love them. :)

[Wiebke]

Here is a similar diet from this forum:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=37030

You will find that the ratewatchers diet is more tailored to veg easily availabe in America, though. There are slight differences, that's why I only put that link in. The recommended amounts are the same!!!

You may like to have a good snoop around the forum. We have lots of information in our reference section and at the top of the other sections.